This is a million dollar question. To answer this question, Let us explain what viral shedding is. When the herpes virus is not active on the surface of the skin. It resides in a sleeping state or asymptotic state inside the nerve cells in their tissues when the virus becomes active it’ll travel the nerve pathways up to the surface of the skin.

This is when you’ll see an outbreak that outbreak is contagious. So it is shedding but there are times when your body is asymptomatic shedding. This is the time when you are contagious but there are no outbreaks or symptoms. You’ll look and feel perfectly fine. HSB type 1 is less likely to shed than HSV type 2. It would be interesting to know that women are often prone to a higher rate of shedding. It is possible for a person to carry the herpes virus without knowing.

They have it since up to 70% of people who are infected with HSV type 2 show no signs of the infection. So it’s very easy for a person to unwillingly transmit the infection to their partner.Due to the fact that viral shedding can occur without any signs or symptoms, it is impossible to determine exactly when viral shedding is occurring. For this reason, there will always be a small risk of transmission but there is still a lot of research that needs to be done on viral shedding.

Also read: How contagious is Herpes? and ways to prevent its outbreak